§ MR. J. G. HUBBARDasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been directed to the dangerous insalubrity of 259 some dwellings in Gray's Inn Road; and, whether he can explain why apparently no steps are being taken, for the reconstruction of the adjacent district, although a scheme for that purpose was the very earliest among those which were suggested in pursuance of the provisions of the Artizans' Dwellings Act?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, that it was quite true that the part of London referred to had been reported upon by the medical authorities, and he could not conceive any worse place in the whole of London. The scheme that was originally presented by the officers of the Metropolitan Board of Works was a large and comprehensive one; but, unfortunately, the Metropolitan Board of Works cut down that scheme, and presented to him such a mutilated scheme that he thought it utterly unworthy of its being passed into law, and he repudiated it. He had been told that during the last Session the Metropolitan Board, under one of their Improvement Acts, but not under the Artizans' Dwellings Act, obtained power to pull down one side of the Gray's Inn Road, which would remove some of the worst descriptions of the dwellings, and he understood that power was being exercised as speedily as possible. If the right hon. Gentleman wished to obtain any further information as to the action and intention of the Metropolitan Board of Works, he would refer him to the Chairman of that Board (Sir James M'Garel Hogg).